Radiance of the Seas Cruisetour #11 trip review - Aug 7-19, 2011

[Larry5440]

Absolutely fabulous. Cannot wait to see more!!!! THank you for posting your pictures and sharing your trip !!!!!!!!!

[wismergirl]

Wonderful. Keep em coming :D

 

Great review - excited to see / read the rest!

 

Here they come again, with the best wildlife viewing in Denali National Park!

[wismergirl]

Absolutely fabulous. Cannot wait to see more!!!! THank you for posting your pictures and sharing your trip !!!!!!!!!

 

You are most welcome! Glad you liked my pics and reviews.

[wismergirl]

August 9, 2011 (Day 12) – Tundra Wilderness Tour, Denali National Park – 1:35 – 9:40 pm (Excursion 3)

 

Yeah! We hit a grand slam for the day, seeing all “BIG 5” of Denali National Park: 1 caribou, 2 moose, 3 wolves (5 times), 3 bears & 12+ dall sheep, plus other little ones that were not part of the “BIG 5” group. Even the bus driver was very excited as he said he didn’t hit the Grand Slam for quite a while. Seeing all the above wildlife make this LOOOOOOOOOONG tour very memorable, unforgettable, and totally worthwhile. We were SOOOOOOOO lucky! Some cruise tours were only at Denali for 4 ½ hours, and they said their tours were boring and unrewarding, just riding on the bumpy dirt road for the entire time! Again, it's an excursion included as part of our cruise tour, like the Riverboat Discovery and the El Dorado Gold Mine tours.

 

Here are the pictures:

First that’s the moose, seen quite far away as I could barely see it using my binoculars! Thanks to my DH’s zoom lens (Canon EF 75-300mm) for getting such a wonderful picture.

 

 

Next was the bear…with the antler of a dead caribou which was eaten by a fox/wolf/bear just a few days ago (according to the driver) in the foreground.

 

 

We did see a caribou during the day:

 

 

Then we saw many wolves a few times, as 2 of them (too bad they were not lovers and did not walk together) were actually walking on the road just in front of the bus at different times and locations. Have you ever seen wolf poop? See the ‘before’ and ‘after’ pics…check the greyish-blue lumps that appeared like stones in the “After” picture:

 

Before

 

 

After

 

 

We saw 4 of the big 5’s and were very satisfied, so we told the bus driver that even if we saw more, we didn’t have to stop as it’s getting quite late (past 8:30 p.m.) and we still had an hour’s journey to go. On the way back, we did see more, and it completed the sighting of the BIG 5. We saw dall sheep more than once, high up on the mountains, even the powerful zoom lens could not make them appear bigger:

 

 

And we saw the wolf 2 more times. Our driver believed it was the same one that we saw earlier on, just going on and off the road.

 

We were given a lunch box with a sub, an orange and a bag of chips on the bus. Since we had a big hot lunch at the National Park, we decided to skip dinner and just finished off the lunch box instead. Rooms at the Grande Denali Lodge were not as good as the ones at Bear Lodge, and they were like 3-star motel rooms with all basic amenities. We were very frustrated as we spent lots of time trying to use the WIFI at the lobby…without any success with connection. Front desk staff could not help so we ended up using the hotel computers at the lobby.

It will be white-water rafting tomorrow! Stay tuned!

[NorbertsNiece]

Love the moose pic. Became a moose fan after our close encounter in Denali. Such a privilege to experience the wildlife in their native habitat.

[wismergirl]

Love the moose pic. Became a moose fan after our close encounter in Denali. Such a privilege to experience the wildlife in their native habitat.

 

I totally agree!

[wismergirl]

August 10, 2011 (Day 13) – White-water rafting in Denali (Excursion 4), train from Denali to Talkeetna

 

This was our first optional excursion in Alaska booked through RCI. After some wonderful experience on white-water rafting near Golden, BC, this rafting trip on the Nenana River in Denali had been one of the highlights of our tours.

 

Again, we had to wake up before 7 am to get ready for the rafting trip (you should see how grumpy my younger daughter was…she’s a #1 night owl!!). The trip was about 3 hours long and we had to get back to the coach by 11:30 a.m. to take the Wilderness Express to Talkeetna. The rafting company sent us a green bus to take all customers (not just RCI’s) to their office in the downtown area. There were about 30 people on the bus.

 

 

 

After a brief visit to the Porta toilets (how I hate those!!), each of us was given a whole set of waterproof gear to put on. My daughter’s illustration would show you how we were dressed.

 

 

 

If someone had told me about this earlier, I would have left our aqua shoes at home (3 lbs. of our luggage weight!!). In my backpack I also packed all scarves, hats, mitts, extra sweaters, etc., and I found myself totally ignorant for doing so. We had to leave everything in the lobby (without lockers), so we had to carry all valuables on ourselves. Luckily our jackets had big pockets (yes, we could wear our jackets underneath the dry suit) so it was not a problem for us. It’s important that you do not wear turtle-necks or have bulky clothing round your neck area, as the dry suit had an expandable rubber-tube-like neck covering which was very air-tight and it stayed close to your skin. We were only allowed to bring disposable water cameras, but the company took a great picture for us for $20.

 

 

 

It was very fun as we did not need to paddle ourselves, basically the guide did it all. My daughters were not happy about it but I was more than OK with it. Nevertheless, our guide let my daughters paddle for a little bit on the calm waters and they did struggle for quite a bit – lack of coordination! We went through many Class II and a few Class III rapids, it was a lot of fun, though a bit rainy at times. Amazingly, we were all wet on the outside but it was all dry on the inside…great dry suits! It was cold but we were not even shivering.

 

The guide dropped us off at a different location on the river and we were all transported back to the company’s office by bus. All 5 rafts (each could accommodate up to 10 people) were taken back by 2 vans.

 

 

 

By noon we were on the Wilderness Express again. The elders didn’t learn from their last train experience and continued to get on board first. As a result, we, being the last ones on board, were the first table to be seated in the dining car for lunch. Boy, we were really hungry and luckily my younger daughter got a free dessert (2 scoops of ice cream with yummy brownie) as the guide was introducing the lunch menu. How spoiled she was! Dessert before entrée!

 

 

 

This time we were sitting on the right side of the train as my DH wanted to capture the breathtaking views of Mt. McKinley. We were really lucky to be one of the 30% who were able to see the peak of N. America’s highest mountain. You think we were psychic to know which side to sit? Not really! I read past cruisers’ reviews and we bought Alaska Railroad’s Ride Guide for $5 to confirm what we read. The Ride Guide was for sale on the train from Fairbanks to Denali and it was a great book with clear maps and points of interest.

 

 

 

 

After several rainy and dull days, we could finally enjoy Talkeetna with bright and beautiful sunshine!

[wismergirl]

August 10, 2011 (Day 13) – Flightseeing with Glacial Landing (Excursion 5), Talkeetna

 

This happened to be the BEST day of our entire 12-night cruise tour. After whitewater rafting in Denali, we said Good Bye to the wet and dull Alaskan summer days and stepped into the Sunshine World. This optional flying tour was AWESOME, STUNNING and SPECTACULAR, as only 30% of all visitors to Alaska could see the peak of Mt. McKinley, and we were one of them. If I knew K2Aviation was the contractor of this excursion, I would book the tour online by myself, as K2 offered very good summer specials that could save us $50 per person. Besides, K2 was very flexible with timing, they would just put you on a plane when you’re there, regardless of what the actual booking time was. Since they were so flexible, and even sent a van that could not accommodate all customers waiting to be picked up at the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge, it would not be a good idea to do this excursion in the morning of the day that the coach departed for Anchorage. Due to the very compact schedule of our cruise tour, I highly recommend booking all excursions through RCI, except for this evening that we were so free and relaxed that we could totally do our own planning. To make it even more memorable, only 10% of all visitors to Alaska could see the whole Alaska Mountain Range (highest peaks were Mt. McKinley, Mt. Foraker & Mt. Hunter), we were also one of them! Besides, we got to fly on top of the Alaska Range and enjoyed the breath-taking views of the highest peaks in North America. It couldn’t have been a more perfect day to enjoy the wonders of the Alaskan Wilderness high up in the sky.

 

 

 

 

 

The planes were so tiny from high up, we’re landing there?!

 

 

Finally we’re landed…YES, on the glacier!

 

 

We had no problem walking on the glacier as K2Aviation provided overshoes for us. We thoroughly enjoyed this amazing tour! It was 9 p.m. by the time we got back to the Talkeetna Lodge and had dinner there, overlooking the terrace with an incredible view of Mt. McKinley at sunset.

 

 

[wismergirl]

August 11, 2011 (Day 14) – Wildlife Jetboat Tour (Excursion 6), Talkeetna

 

This was another optional tour that we picked. At the first part of the tour I found it quite boring…anti-climax to Denali NP, whitewater rafting & flightseeing! However, the beautiful sunny weather with the sight of the whole Alaska Mountain Range, plus the spotting of different wildlife made the tour more interesting. The view of Alaska Range, this time on water, was gorgeous!

 

 

We saw a bald eagle on the branch of a tree, it was very visible using our binoculars.

 

 

 

Then there was a bear on the shore.

 

 

Next there was a very big bald eagle nest on the right side of the boat with at least 2 birds in the nest.

 

 

On the way back, we stopped and got off the boat for a bit of very easy hiking on a trail. We saw different types of animal pelts, a cache, antlers, etc….very similar to the Indian village we saw on our Riverboat Discovery cruise. Being a teacher, I liked this exploration (educational side tour), and our guide was very good. The scenery was beautiful and we took a picture of our all glass-enclosed jetboat while walking back to it.

 

 

Just couldn’t believe that was what we saw…a plane flying over the peak of Mt. McKinley…though many pictures taken already, we had to take more to glorify this magnificent sight. Praise the Lord for His wonderful creation. These songs kept coming to me, “For the Beauty of the Earth” & “All Things Bright and Beautiful” (both by John Rutter).

 

 

When we got back to town of Talkeetna, we went to Roadhouse to grab a breakfast take-out. That place was packed with people and it took us 30 minutes from ordering to actually getting the food. The food was very oily and salty, very typical for a lot of Alaskan dishes, and that was our brunch to eat on the coach from Talkeetna to Anchorage. One more excursion at the Alaska Native Heritage Centre in Anchorage, then we’d be done our wonderful 5-night cruise tour. I couldn't wait to get on the Radiance!

Edited September 2, 2011 by wismergirl

[wismergirl]

August 11, 2011 (Day 14) – Alaska Native Heritage Centre (Excursion 7), Anchorage

 

This excursion happened to be the one that I liked the least, probably because we had visited many of the similar villages, and we had already learned a lot from our professional guides. Our tour guides were definitely very knowledgeable. They even inspired my younger daughter so much that she wanted to be one of them as her summer job! Nevertheless, we did learn about the 11 different cultural groups in Alaska, enjoyed their performances using traditional authentic musical instruments and props, and their everyday life now.

This is the building and the lake, with different villages set up around it.

 

 

We spent over 2 hours there. After less than an hour, we finished walking around the lake and visited all villages. We then spent the rest of the time looking at exhibits and watching performances. Merchandise in their gift shop was the most expensive compared to all the Alaskan places of interest we visited in the last few days.

 

At 4 p.m., we were driven to Marriott Downtown, met up with my parents who arrived at the hotel a couple of hours earlier, felt relieved when I found out that both their luggage and themselves were able to arrive safely, especially after a 1 hour delay in Toronto! There was only 1 direct flight from Vancouver to Anchorage, if they missed that connecting flight they would have to fly down to Seattle and then to Anchorage, it would take another 6-12 hours…how I hate connecting flights! Marriott was a much more luxurious hotel compared to the accommodations of the last few nights. However, there were basically no shops or restaurants close to it, and it’s very expensive to eat in the restaurant, which provided average food but extremely slow service. We didn’t have dinner there but our breakfast experience there was not pleasant at all!

 

After saying goodbye to our wonderful tour director, Leah, and received from her our upgraded train transfer vouchers to the Seward Port plus our room keys at Marriott, we started to walk to our dining venue. I made dinner reservation for the 6 of us at Simon and Seafort’s on L Street at 5 p.m. It took us just 10 minutes to walk there from the hotel. The restaurant was in an office building with a very small sign outside so it was quite hard to find. Luckily I printed out directions beforehand. On their website it stated that they offered panoramic views of Mt. Susitna and the Alaska range, and was famous for their Alaskan seafood. The best part was that they had a $25 three-course meal if ordered between 4:30 and 5:30 p.m. daily. Since it was a beautiful day, my parents did enjoy the great views (way better than the views we saw a week ago when it was rainy and gloomy in Anchorage!) but the food was not even up to par. My soup was not hot enough and it was so salty that I had to ask the waiter to take it back, telling them that the chef might have put double salt in it! Alaskan food in general was oily and salty, probably because it’s so cold there that they need more oil and salt to keep them warm!!

[wismergirl]

August 12, 2011 (Day 15) – Day of Embarkation, Anchorage to Seward (Train)

 

Hooray! Finally this day had arrived! We’re boarding the Radiance today! We put all our luggage outside our room at the Marriott and only carried with us our camera bags, a backpack containing a bag of food for lunch, our toiletries bags, our pyjamas and our cruise documents to board the train. It had never been so easy before! Kudos to RCI for providing such smooth seamless luggage arrangements! I’ll really consider joining pre-cruise cruisetours just for the sake of the easy handling of luggage, especially in Europe and Asia!

 

THE PART BELOW WAS ONE THAT MANY CRUISERS WERE MOST CONCERNED ABOUT REGARDING CHECK-IN (I’ll try to be as detailed and specific as possible):

 

At 8 a.m. we went to the 2nd floor of Marriott where RCI had a big conference room set up for check-in. The main purpose was to give everyone their train tickets and assign them a bus # with departure time from hotel to the train station, or transfer vouchers for those who used the bus instead of the train. Since there were 6 of us, we had priority and special service. At the reception desk outside the conference room, we were given a number and each of us was given a health form to fill out. We then went in the conference room, sat at a table and DID NOT NEED TO STAND IN LINE where other passengers were standing and waiting. An RCI rep came to our table, sat with us and checked everyone’s passport and health form, then took our train vouchers that our cruise director gave us the previous day, and gave us coloured train tickets with train car # and seat #. The bus that we would go on was the 11:50 one.

 

After check-in we still had 3 hours to spend before boarding the bus. My daughters went back to their room to sleep and I had breakfast with my parents & DH at the Marriott Restaurant. We had to wait for a table for 20 minutes (not that they did not have empty tables but there was no one available to clean them up), then 15 minutes for a menu, then another 15 minutes for a pot of coffee, before we could actually place the order. Since the service was so slow, we decided to have buffet breakfast instead. When we finished, it was almost 10:30 a.m…a 2-hour buffet breakfast, my goodness!!

 

Since we still had an hour before our departure time, DH and I went for a walk to enjoy the unusually beautiful sunny day. We ended up at a supermarket called New Sagaya’s City Market (900 West 13th Ave) which was only 10 minutes away from Marriott. We bought some food and drinks for lunch on the train. On our way we went past a beautiful park and saw a reindeer in a fenced area of a house.

 

Back to the Marriott we woke our daughters up (first time for us to be in connecting rooms in 5 days, they were usually in the rooms next to ours), got all our belongings and went back to the big conference room where they called each bus by colour and time. An RCI rep would escort the whole busload of passengers downstairs to board the bus, very efficient and well-organized.

 

At the train station which was adjacent to the airport, we waited in a spacious lounge where lots of tables and chairs were set up.

 

 

 

At around 12:30 p.m. they called us by car # and we were on the train. If your seats were C & D you would be facing the front, A & B sat directly opposite to C &D, and ABCD shared one pretty big table. My family sat together and my parents sat next to us with another couple. RCI had all our seats pre-arranged so we could be together and got the tickets with printed seats when we did the check-in at 8 a.m. I couldn’t be more thankful to our tour director as she did communicate with RCI continuously to allow such perfect arrangements to be made so we could travel with my parents who were not on a cruisetour. Lots of passengers who had booked the bus from Anchorage to Seward were asking for the train upgrades at the Marriott and were not successful in securing any train seats. They should have asked their travel agents to book their pre-cruise stay and specify “Hotel with Train” instead of “Hotel with bus”. Calling the regular RCI booking line would not be helpful when it’s about Alaska sailings, ask for transfer to Alaska Cruisetour Help Desk to get morer help, though many times they would ask you to direct your concerns to your travel agent and have the agent called them instead.

 

The scenery of this train ride from Anchorage to Seward, IMO, was the best out of all the train rides we were on. The beauty of the glaciers and canyons was unbelievable.

 

 

 

Most of the beautiful scenery happened to be on the left side of the train where the even number seats were.

 

This is not a postcard!

 

 

The glaciers were so close to us!

 

 

 

 

One of the many waterfalls pictures

 

 

After a 4 hours’ journey (1:00 – 5:00 p.m.), we finally arrived at Seward’s cruise terminal. The train stationed right next to the terminal building and we were lucky to be the second car that got called off the train for check-in. Yes, we had to check-in again, this time they still needed to check all documents and issued us our SeaPass cards. The line was very long but it moved quite quickly. As Diamond members we did not have to wait in line and were instructed to proceed to a check-in counter right away using the Priority Check-in line for Platinum, Emerald, Diamond, Diamond Plus & Pinnacle members. We set foot on the Radiance at around 5:30 p.m., went straight to our staterooms one after another, making sure that all our bags were delivered, then grabbed the Cruise Compass and Crown & Anchor’s coupon books and made our way to the Cascades Dining Room on Deck 4 to enjoy our 1st dinner on board, right at 6 p.m. (main seating).

[wismergirl]

August 12, 2011 (Day 15) – on board the Radiance (Day 1 of the cruise portion)

 

Are you sick and tired of my lengthy posts? What I wrote were answers to a lot of questions that I had before the cruise tours and the cruise. I was trying to help as much as I could. You’re most welcome to skip the written parts and just look at the photos.

 

How about some fun now to look at 2 types of staterooms that are quite hard to book for most sailings? Either you don’t have at least 5 people to stay in one room, i.e., the Family Oceanview; or someone grabbed the D2 Oceanview stateroom with a huge balcony (3 times the size of a regular one) faster than you.

 

First, let’s look at the Family Oceanview #8002 (390 sq.ft) with a sitting area (double sofabed), a bedroom area that had 2 twin beds (convert to a Queen), and a tiny separate bedroom for a twin bed and a pull-down bunk bed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The whole room can accommodate 6 people and you need to have at least 5 pp to book that type of room. However, just 1 month before sail date, that room became available as an ordinary Oceanview room that allowed double occupancy. My parents (in their 70’s), happily gave away their E2 mid-ship balcony room (on the Starboard side which should have been great for watching Hubbard Glacier) for a more spacious room. They LOVED their huge room and really enjoyed the separate sleeping areas. You want to know the price difference between an E2 and an FO? Over $500 per person at the time of switching! However, we booked their E2 1 year ago on board the Oasis so the price difference was less than $100 per person and we were refunded. Thanks to our incredible travel agent who kept checking for lower room prices and upgrade availabilities!

 

Next there were my room and my daughters’ D2 Superior Oceanview room with balcony that were side by side (with no connecting doors), Room #1104 & 1604. Those rooms were just regular D2 rooms with room size of about 200 sq. ft. However, our balcony measured to over 100 sq.ft. (more than double of a regular balcony), it was wonderful for watching Hubbard Glacier with our camera on tripod all set up. These balcony rooms were located at the aft of the ship…a long walk but they were very quiet as no one walked past them. We had very good sleeps as no one talked outside our room while walking by, excellent for light sleepers!

 

 

 

This was a picture of my daughters’ balcony that I took from my own balcony. We stayed there to watch Hubbard Glacier together while maintaining our own little privacy…reading, writing trip journals, balcony dining, etc.!

 

 

 

After dinner, there was a Muster Drill at 8:15 p.m. My parents' station was inside the Aurora Theatre and my family's was on Deck 5 Aft. Then we used some of our 20% discount coupons to book our spa services, and attended the Welcome Aboard Show which was late at 10:45 p.m. for all guests, with some pretty entertaining juggling tricks. Looking forward to Hubbard Glacier on Day 2!

[cidymom]

Hi wismergirl. I'm enjoying your review. Thanks for sharing the info and pictures of the Family Oceanview room. There hasn't been much info on these rooms. We are booked in one for next year on the 7th floor. My only concern is that I will be be seasick due to the room being at the very front of the ship. Did your parents encounter any seasickness? Was the ship rocking more at the front? Are the porthole windows big enough to get a good view out? Thanks in advance for your help.

[rdillon2]

 

After dinner, there was a Muster Drill at 8:15 p.m. My parents' station was inside the Aurora Theatre and my family's was on Deck 5 Aft. Then we used some of our 20% discount coupons to book our spa services, and attended the Welcome Aboard Show which was late at 10:45 p.m. for all guests, with some pretty entertaining juggling tricks. Looking forward to Hubbard Glacier on Day 2!

 

Do you know how that worked for the late dining seating? Although I think I read that you don't have to take your life jacket w/ you, so I guess if they were pretty quick you would just head straight to dinner.

 

Leaving in the morning for a few self-touring days then on the last southbound cruise of the season on Friday.

[wismergirl]

Hi wismergirl. I'm enjoying your review. Thanks for sharing the info and pictures of the Family Oceanview room. There hasn't been much info on these rooms. We are booked in one for next year on the 7th floor. My only concern is that I will be be seasick due to the room being at the very front of the ship. Did your parents encounter any seasickness? Was the ship rocking more at the front? Are the porthole windows big enough to get a good view out? Thanks in advance for your help.

 

 

I'm glad you found the info helpful! I too was trying very hard to find them pictures of their stateroom and I could only get some for #8000 with a big pothole window on top of the bed. My parents were glad that they could sit right beside the window on the sofa and looked outside without feeling cold. The window was very big and the view was good. Are you doing NB or SB one way cruise? If so, your cabin would be most wonderful watching Hubbard Glacier. Round trip Alaskan cruises do not go there but you'll still see a lot when the ship enters each port.

 

We had very calm waters throughout the cruise. Even when we could feel the movement at ship aft, my parents said they didn't feel much motion at the front of the ship . The Alaskan cruise was the calmest out of the 10+ cruises we were on. I'm sure you'll enjoy the ship and the cruise. It's definitely a trip of a life time!

[wismergirl]

Do you know how that worked for the late dining seating? Although I think I read that you don't have to take your life jacket w/ you, so I guess if they were pretty quick you would just head straight to dinner.

 

Leaving in the morning for a few self-touring days then on the last southbound cruise of the season on Friday.

 

You'll do the muster drill first then go for dinner at 8:30 pm. We were dismissed at 8:35 p.m.

 

Have fun on the cruise!

[wismergirl]

August 13, 2011 (Day 16) – Hubbard Glacier (Day 2 of the cruise portion)

 

I went scrapbooking with my daughter at 9 a.m. after a quick breakfast at the Diamond Lounge. The specialty coffee machine there made very good coffee all day long, even when the lounge was close. We could just use our SeaPass cards to get in the lounge. The Concierge, Chris Whiting, was very helpful, especially for changing the Whale Watching Cruise for us from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. We happened to have the best views of the whale breaching and we saw lots of beautiful whale tails. I’ll show you the pictures later.

 

Day 2 of the cruise was one of the highlights as we saw Hubbard Glacier. IT’S VERY IMPORTANT TO BOOK A BALCONY ROOM ON THE STARBOARD (RIGHT) SIDE OF THE SHIP. Unfortunately we gave up our 3 Starboard side balcony rooms for bigger room size and bigger aft balconies. However, we were really lucky that lots of calvings happened when the glacier was facing us while the ship made its 360 degrees turn. The sound and the sight were both incredible!

 

I happened to be at the Spa for my manicure and hair when we were passing the glacier. The Spa had the best location watching the glacier, the seals and the calving! I’ll post the calving pictures in the next posts. Let’s enjoy Hubbard Glacier first.

 

Lovely seals on the ice

 

 

Picture taken from our balcony…the glacier was so close to us!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[wismergirl]

August 13, 2011 (Day 16) – Hubbard Glacier (Day 2 of the cruise)

 

Watch the shadowy upside down 'V' part on the middle left of the picture and see how big chunks of glacier fall down to the sea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[wismergirl]

August 13, 2011 (Day 16) – Hubbard Glacier (Day 2 of the cruise)

 

Another loud, huge and spectacular calving was coming!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At around 4 p.m., the captain announced that we had to say good bye to this stunning sight!

 

 

 

This was definitely the best “WOW” day that RCI offered to us!

 

 

 

Time to get ready for dinner on the 1st formal night.

Edited September 5, 2011 by wismergirl

[wismergirl]

August 13, 2011 (Day 16) – Hubbard Glacier (Day 2 of the cruise)

 

I was so excited about Hubbard Glacier that I totally didn’t mention about the wonderful “Meet & Mingle” experience held at StarQuest Lounge on Deck 13, next to the Diamond Lounge.

 

This is the Diamond Lounge where we had breakfast.

 

 

I was so lucky to win one of the 5 prizes at "M&M", 1 RCI visor and 1 RCI pouch, which were perfect for excursions. Too bad we didn’t win the champagne this time, but we did win it when we were on Splendour of the Seas doing a Brazilian cruise last March. There were 30+ guests there and we had a great time indentifying ourselves, chatting, eating…yes! RCI provided free fruit punch, soda, fruit and snacks.

 

 

Let’s see if I can add a picture to show the whole Hubbard Glacier which is the longest tidewater glacier (76 miles) in Alaska with an open calving face of over 6.2 miles wide.

 

 

After the 1st formal dinner, we went back to our balcony to enjoy the beautiful sunset, not guaranteed for all sailings due to the highly unpredictable Alaskan weather.

 

 

We loved the Radiance as it’s really pretty, especially after its dry dock when many public places were renovated.

 

Magnificent views of the Centrum

 

 

 

We rented a minivan to tour around Juneau by ourselves tomorrow, hope it’s not going to rain (60% chance)!

[wismergirl]

August 14, 2011 (Day 17) – Mendenhall Glacier, Juneau, Alaska (Day 3 of the cruise)

 

It was so dumb of me for not checking out the location of Alamo’s car rental office CAREFULLY before reserving it!!! All I knew was it was right at the dock where RCI docked, but I DIDN’T know that it’s the Rhapsody that docked there and NOT the Radiance. So, if you’re on the Radiance & you want to rent a car, get it from some other car company’s downtown locations where Radiance docked or call Alamo (at AJ Dock – 20 minutes walk from the Radiance dock) so they can send you a shuttle to pick you up. There was only one person working at the Alamo rental office, so if he/she was out doing shuttle rounds, you’ll have to wait for his/her return. Alamo gave us a map of Juneau and recommended some points of interest for us to go and visit. Another point for those car renters: DON’T COMPLETELY RELY ON YOUR GPS AS IT DIDN’T WORK FOR HALF THE TIME – USE A MAP. There is only one main road along the coast of Juneau that you would use so it’s hard to get lost!

 

First we drove for about 15 minutes to Mendenhall Glacier (#1 must-see in Juneau). There was a big parking lot just before the bus stops and a small one very close to the visitor centre ($3 admission) with only about 20+ parking spaces. From the big parking lot there was a trail to the visitor centre but my parents did not like climbing the stairs up so we only used it when we came back from the visitor centre.

 

 

 

Though the glacier was receding at a fast rate - 580 m (1900 ft) since 1948, it was still magnificent!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We used the trail to walk back to the parking lot and saw lots of dead salmons that were eaten by the bears. Many of their pink eggs were visible in the creek. Other visitors saw little bears but we didn’t. However, we saw a bald eagle standing on the top of a branch very close to us. We could see it very clearly without using binoculars.

 

 

 

The Alamo sales rep recommended a whale watching location (near Shrine of St Therese off State Highway 7) but it was too far from the sea and even if there were whales, we would not be able to see clearly.

[wismergirl]

August 14, 2011 (Day 17) – Macaulay Salmon Hatchery, Juneau, Alaska (Day 3 of the cruise)

 

Our next stop was Macaulay Salmon Hatchery, situated only 2.5 miles from Downtown Juneau. Bye to Mr. Sunshine here as we experienced the normal rainy August weather of Alaska, though it didn’t rain for the whole time we were there. Get a Macaulay Salmon Hatchery leaflet with a buy-1-get-1-free coupon from the Tourist Info booth located directly in front of the Radiance after you get off the ship. Admission was $3.25 per adult or $15 for a group of 5 adults.

 

 

 

For the nerdy ones, enlarge and read on:

 

 

This was the actual fish ladder.

 

 

Salmons had to jump really high to get upstream.

 

 

Relax, fishies! You’re there, just stay calm so you can be sorted and placed in the holding tanks, where you lay eggs, then RIP!

 

 

Final destination reached! Salmons were then sorted & placed in the vertical tanks according to their types.

 

 

It’s lunch time so we drove our parents and DD’s back to the ship for lunch. DH & I continued to explore Juneau. Next stop would be The Alaskan Brewery.

[wismergirl]

August 14, 2011 (Day 17) – Alaskan Brewery, Juneau, Alaska (Day 3 of the cruise)

 

The Alaskan Brewery was very close to the Salmon Hatchery and easily accessible by car. If you don’t have a car, the company had a free shuttle that picked up customers from some downtown locations.

 

 

 

In the brewery, you’re allowed to sample 6 different types of beer free of charge. The sampling glass was very small and cute!

 

 

There was no tour allowed inside the actual work areas. However, guests could see the machines from a viewing area.

 

 

 

Then we drove around the downtown area. There were many one way streets and they’re very narrow. Although it was cloudy with no sunshine, the Radiance still looked awesome compared to the Silversea’s Silver Shadow that also docked there.

 

2 ships docked in Juneau: Silversea’s Silver Shadow (front) and RCI’s Radiance of the Seas (back)

 

 

Radiance in Juneau

 

[LuckiePuris]

Thanks Wismergirl for the fantastic review and amazing photos! :)

[jennat]

I am really enjoying your review. We took this cruise in June and LOVED it. Best vacation ever.

 

PS Love the photo of you two jumping and touching the pipeline and your pictures from the flight in Talkeetna are amazing.

 

Looking forward to more!